Measurement of trimethylamine concentration and evaluation of pig meat natural quality by a spectrophotometric method

Abstract

Pig meat off-flavor is attributed to trimethylamine (TMA) concentration, and it is considered as the precursor of the fishy off-flavor problems. In this study, TMA concentrations in pig meat were determined, and the interactions with breed and gender effects were discussed. In addition, the TMA threshold for meat off-flavor and pig meat natural quality was measured in relation to meat storage and movement, and the influential factors including the pig breed and storage time were discussed. The results indicated positive effects on the precursor of the fishy off-flavor and the TMA threshold. Native breeds were found to have lower TMA concentrations than European breeds (P<0.01), and females and castrated males had significantly lower TMA concentration than males (P<0.01), The threshold concentration of TMA when meat was classed as off-flavored was 25 μg·g^-1, and this occurred after 35–38 h of storage. The natural qualities, such as appearance, flavor, color and overall acceptable scores declined significantly after 4 days in storage (P<0.01). It is concluded that pig meat off-flavor, breed and gender were essential factors affecting flavor for meat breeding programs, and storage time is important for pig meat natural quality.

Keywords

pig meat / trimethylamine (TMA) / influential factor

References

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Key Basic Research Program of China (2014CB138500) and the Domain-Specific Projects for Transgenic Biologic Breeding (2014ZX08009-002).

ƒMohammod Abdul Hamid, Xi Wang, Xiangdong Ding, Chuduan Wang and Xingbo Zhao declare that they have no conflict of interest or financial conflicts to disclose.ƒAll applicable institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

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Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg